THE INC A PERUVIANS. 115 



We next proceed to examine into the physical character of the Modern 

 Peruvians. They differ little in person from the Indians around them, being of 

 the middling stature, well limbed, and with small feet and hands. Their faces 

 are round, their eyes small, black, and rather distant from each other ; their noses 

 are small, the mouth somewhat large, and the teeth remarkably fme.^ Their 

 complexion is a dark brown, and their hair long, black, and rather coarse. 



The skull in these people is remarkable for its small size, and also, as just 

 observed, for its quadrangular form. The occiput is greatly compressed, some- 

 times absolutely vertical ; the sides are swelled out, and the forehead is somewhat 

 elevated but very retreating. The capacity of the cavity of the cranium, derived 

 from the measurement of many specimens of the pure Inca race, shows, as we 

 shall hereafter see, a singularly small cerebral mass for an intelligent and civilised 

 people. These heads are remarkable not only for their smallness, but also for 

 their irregularity ; for in the whole series in my possession, there is but one that 

 can be called symmetrical. This irregularity chiefly consists in the greater 

 projection of the occiput to one side than the other, showing, in some instances, a 

 surprising degree of deformity. As this condition is as often observed on one 

 side as the other, it is not to be attributed to the intentional application of 

 mechanical force ; on the contrary it is to a certain degree common to the whole 

 American race, and is sometimes no doubt increased by the manner in which the 

 child is placed in the cradle. 



I am in fact convinced, that among the collection of Peruvian skulls alluded 

 to above, there is not one that has been designedly moulded by art ; and hence it 

 may be reasonably inferred, that individuals of the royal race, or those forming 

 the higher classes among the Peruvians, seldom or never flattened their heads. 

 What to them was natural was imitated by the inferior orders, and especially, it 

 may be conjectured, by the inhabitants of conquered provinces, and others whose 

 heads may not have been originally formed on the aristocratic model. While the 

 early Spanish travellers frequently speak of the flattened heads of the people, they 

 never mention this condition as applicable to the princes and other dignitaries who 

 abounded in Peru at the conquest. Let it not be supposed, however, that these 

 deformities were confined to a single model : on the contrary there were two 



* Stevenson, South Amer. I, p. 376. — Ruschenberger, Three Years m the Pacific, p. 3S0. — 

 Ulloa, Yoy. to S. Amer. I, p. 267. — The latter author asserts that more natural defects are observed 

 among the Indians of Quito than in any other race of men. If this be the fact, it must be attributed 

 to the proximity of civilisation, which is well known to enervate and debase the Indian. 



